Research
Hormonal
EPA and DHA improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation in healthy or overweight individuals, but these benefits are not consistently observed in individuals with established Type 2 Diabetes.
If you are healthy or overweight, adding EPA and DHA (from fish or supplements) may help improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation. However, if you already have Type 2 Diabetes, fish oil is unlikely to significantly improve your blood sugar control or insulin resistance on its own.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
This benefit, however, does not seem to extend to obese or T2D subjects.
Why this rating
Mixed results in human studies; consistent in animal models.
Source
Are all n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids created equal?
Breanne M. Anderson et al. · Lipids in Health and Disease · 2009
DOI 10.1186/1476-511x-8-33
narrative_reviewCited 332×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- High intake of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is associated with an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer, whereas EPA and DHA show protective or neutral effects.Moderate
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